Karl-Anthony Towns spent years as Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal’s favorite punching bag, the big man they said played soft. Two games into the Finals, both have flipped, and they are calling him the MVP of the series.
Towns has played well enough that Barkley and even O’Neal, one of his longtime critics, now consider him the Finals MVP so far. The shift is striking from two analysts who built a running segment around questioning Towns’ toughness.
The defense is what changed their minds
Towns has drawn the Wembanyama assignment and held up. When Towns was the primary defender, Wembanyama shot 2-of-12 in Game 1, the kind of number that vindicates Barkley’s long-standing gripe that the Spurs star can be neutralized when an opponent matches his length.
In Game 2, Towns added 21 points and 13 rebounds on 8-of-12 shooting, including 13 points in the fourth quarter to drag the Knicks across the line.
The advanced numbers back the eye test
Towns is now within roughly six points of breaking Stephen Curry’s all-time single-postseason plus-minus record, the kind of metric that captures a player tilting games in both directions.
For a career long defined by gaudy scoring on teams that exited early, anchoring the defense and the offense on a Finals team is a different kind of résumé line. The Knicks have won 13 straight playoff games, trailing only the 2017 Warriors’ 15 for the longest single-postseason streak ever.
Why the pundit reversal matters
When the two loudest skeptics in the sport both pivot to crowning a player they spent years doubting, it reframes how Towns is seen league-wide.
Brunson is the engine and the closer, but the case Barkley and O’Neal are making is that Towns has been the swing piece, the matchup that unlocked both road wins. He still has to keep it up at Madison Square Garden, where the version of Towns who wilted in past postseasons would be most tempted to reappear.
Receive exclusive NBA news and updates twice a week to your mailbox